1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a cushioning material for packaging that is suitable for packaging an electronic apparatus, an optical apparatus or an electronic apparatus having an optical system mounted therein, and a package using this cushioning material for packaging.
2. Description of Related Art
An electronic apparatus having an optical system mounted therein, such as a projector, must be protected from being damaged by impact from the outside during transportation while the apparatus is packaged into a corrugated cardboard box. For example, a cushioning material for packaging that has an upper pad 10 and a lower pad 20 as shown in FIGS. 21 and 22, has been used in the past. A lower stiffening plate 3 formed of a corrugated cardboard, a lower pad 20, a projector 50 as an article to be packaged (or an optical engine mounted in the projector) that is wrapped by an anti-static bag 500, an upper pad 10 and an upper stiffening plate 4 formed of a corrugated cardboard are stacked and accommodated in this order into a corrugated cardboard box 2 (discrete box). Here, both upper and lower pads 10 and 20 are formed of pulp mold or the like. A plurality of upper pad side hollow convex portions 15 and a plurality of lower pad side hollow convex portions 25 protrude respectively from these upper and lower pads 10 and 20 in such a fashion as to encompass an accommodation space 21 of the projector 50. Therefore, the projector 50 is encompassed by the upper pad side convex portions 15 and the lower pad side hollow convex portions 25 between the upper pad 10 and the lower pad 20 and is protected from vibration during transportation.
In some cases, the lower stiffening plate 3 formed of a corrugated cardboard, the lower pad 20, the projector 50 as the article to be packaged, the upper pad 10 and an accessory accommodation box 6 have been put in this order into the corrugated cardboard box 2 as shown in FIG. 23. In this case, too, the projector 50 is encompassed by the upper pad side hollow convex portion 15 and the lower pad side hollow convex portion 25 between the upper pad 10 and the lower pad 20 and is protected from vibration during transportation.
Furthermore, the lower stiffening plate 3 formed of a corrugated cardboard, the lower pad 20, the projector 50 as the article to be packaged that is wrapped by the anti-static bag 500 and the accessory accommodation box 6 have been put and accommodated in the past in this order into the corrugated cardboard box 2 as shown in FIGS. 24 and 25.
In such packaging structures, both the upper and lower pads 10 and 20 have been formed of pulp mold or the like in the past. The upper and lower pads 10 and 20 formed of the pulp mold are broken when impact is imparted to the package, and thus absorb the impact.
The corrugated cardboard box 2 that packages the projector 50 is sometimes dropped accidentally during transportation and a large impact is applied at this time to the projector 50 inside the corrugated cardboard box 2. Nonetheless, the cushioning materials according to the prior art sometimes fail to reliably protect the projector 50, and further improvement has been desired.
An instruction manual of the projector 50 written in principal languages is packaged together with the projector 50. When the projector 50 is exported to countries where languages other than the principal languages described above are used, an instruction manual written in specific languages must be inserted in place of the original instruction manual. In the packaging structure shown in FIG. 24, however, it is necessary to unpack the package and to take out the instruction manual from the accessory accommodation box 6 for replacement after the projector is completely packaged for export procedures or the like, and this operation is very troublesome.